Dear News Media, When Reporting Poll Results…

Similar:Auschwitz color photo: 'A 14-year-old girl, not just a statistic'I don’t know what this prisoner did, but…AestheticsTeenage Usability (Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox)Teens often work on laptops with track p…CybercultureNew data on the first three jobs held by graduates of six popular majors“There is an enormous part of the econom…AcademiaWanted in College Graduates: Tolerance for Ambiguity”What answer…

From Fish to Infinity

Yesterday, my eight-year-old said, “I don’t like math, but I’m good at it.” This is a huge improvement from the math-related tug-of-wars we’ve encountered almost daily for the past year and a half. Yesterday, she also finished a “Star Wars Math” game, where the idea is to play a Trivial Pursuits style game, spaced-out versions…

Copernicus

After hearing that the 16th-century astronomer Copernicus was to be reburied with honors in a Polish ceremony, I checked the Wikipedia entry. Woah! Among the great polymaths of the Renaissance, Copernicus was a mathematician, astronomer, physician, quadrilingual polyglot, classical scholar, translator, artist,[3] Catholic cleric, jurist, governor, military leader, diplomat and economist. Among his many responsibilities,…

Mathematical Notation Gets an Upgrade

I can’t say I understand, but someone invented every symbol and bit of notation that we use from emoticons to the alphabet.  It’s cool to see the story of the need to invent new symbols.  via Wired. Similar:Why No One Clicked on the Great Hypertext StoryIt’s not that hypertext went on to becom…CultureRequiem for the…

On the Edge of Math and Code

Great stuff from Mark Marino… not only is the content fascinating, but the blog-sized presentation, for discusison, of a fundamental theoretical concept is a great example of what the blogging medium can do for (and to) scholarship. Item for today: = In Donald Knuth and Luis Trabb Pardo‘s article on the history of computers, the…

Margin of Error

I’m gearing up to introduce my journalism students to a news project that requires a basic knowledge of math. I don’t want to make it too frustrating to them, but I do want to emphasize how easy it is to be misled by the math. Margin of Error deserves better than the throw-away line it…